Science Verification Data

...

For general information on the Science Verification process as well as the status and future plans of Science Verification projects, please use the link below:

...

Currently Available Science Verification Data:

We now have several datasets available to demonstrate the early capabilities of ALMA. In some cases these projects were observed before 16 antennas were available and while many of the subsystems were still being tested, so they should not be construed to represent the quality of the data that can be expected from the system as it is today. They are provided here as a means for the user to become acquainted with the ALMA data structure, observing strategies and reduction techniques. Given that the data have been taken during the construction phase, there may be more idiosyncrasies present than will be expected during full operations, so we ask the user to please review carefully the CASA guides provided with the datasets that represent unique observing modes or strategies, as indicated below.

For reference the list of Science Verification targets that was provided with the Cycle 0 Call for Proposals is given in Table 2 which indicates which observations have been completed or are in progress. We do not expect to observe the other sources on that list.

Additional data on Antennae is available (without a separate CASA guide) here: Band 6

4. M100 Band 3, low spectral resolution. Many thanks to the following people for suggesting this source for ALMA Science Verification: Preben Grosbol and Catherine Vlahakis.

Update:ACA (7-m Array and TP Array) data on M100, complete with a CASA Guide demonstrating the combination of 12-m, 7-m, and TP Array data, are now available. The combined images are also available. The CASA guide is written for CASA version 4.3. An updated version of the previously released 12-m Array data products are provided for CASA 4.3.

Update: A second dataset on this source, taken shortly after the first, has been added to the above directory. This data was taken under very good conditions and at higher elevation, so has better sensitivity than the first but, due to a fault lacks the system temperature information which is required to perform a standard flux calibration.

The raw band 6 dataset with the full spectral resolution is also available in the above directory. Be aware that this is a large file so downloading it and reducing it will take patience.

Update: A Band 9 dataset on IRAS16293, complete with CASA Guide, is now also available. Note that the data products (calibrated science uv-data and images) deployed before June 18th, 2012 had a position offset of about 1.2" toward positive R.A. due to an error in the phase calibrator position. This has now been fixed in both the calibrated science uv-data and images as described in the casaguides

8. Centaurus A Band 6: high spectral resolution mosaic. Many thanks to the following people for suggesting this source for ALMA Science Verification: Juergen Ott, Christian Struve, Tommy Wiklind, Sergio Martin

13. Juno Band 6: very high angular resolution, long (~10 km) baselines. This data was observed as part of the 2014 ALMA Long Baseline Campaign. Details of the imaging of the long baseline data are given in a CASA Guide page.

14. Mira Band 3 and Band 6: very high angular resolution, long (~10 km) baselines. This data was observed as part of the 2014 ALMA Long Baseline Campaign. Details of the imaging of the long baseline data are given in a CASA Guide page.

15. HL Tau Band 3, Band 6 and Band 7: very high angular resolution, long (~10 km) baselines. This data was observed as part of the 2014 ALMA Long Baseline Campaign. Details of the imaging of the long baseline data are given in a CASA Guide page.

16. SDP.81 Band 4, Band 6 and Band 7: very high angular resolution, long (~10 km) baselines. This data was observed as part of the 2014 ALMA Long Baseline Campaign. Details of the imaging of the long baseline data are given in a CASA Guide page.

Update: Note that the Band 4 CO image products deployed before March 2nd, 2015, were not continuum subtracted. These have now been replaced with continuum-subtracted images. Details of the additional continuum subtraction step are given in the imaging script on the long baseline CASA Guide page. Note also that the Band 4 CO image products deployed before April 17, 2015, used a rest frequency corresponding to an adopted redshift z=3.04 (142.641 GHz). For consistency with the other spectral line data on this target, these have now been replaced with images that adopt z=3.042.

17. 3C 286 Band 6: continuum polarization. Details of the calibration and imaging of these polarization data are given in a CASA guide.

19. Sgr B2(N) Band 5: almost complete spectral scan from 163 GHz to 211 GHz with the hybrid 12m-7m array.

20. Solar observations:- 2014 campaign: single pointings in a quiet solar region at Band 3 and Band 6, and in an active solar region at Band 3 and Band 6.- 2015 campaign: 149 pt mosaic of the active region AR12470 at Band 3 and Band 6 and of the limb near the Sun's south pole at Band 6.- 2015 campaign: 39 pt mosaic of quiet sun region near the east limb at Band 3 and Band 6 .- 2015 campaign: single pointings of the west side of the active region AR12470 at Band 3 (16 December and 17 December data).

Commissioning Test data

1. Proof of Concept of Response to Targets of Opportunity: GRB 110715A followup Band 7: continuum. Many thanks to the following people for participating in the Rapid Response testing: Dale Frail, Ashley Zauderer, Andreas Lundgren, Itziar de Gregorio, Mark Rawlings, Diego Garcia, Stuartt Corder

2. Pluto Band 7 TDM data in support of NASA JPL New Horizons Mission: Pluto band 7: continuum. Many thanks to Leslie Young and Alan Stern (Southwest Research Institute), Hal Weaver (Johns Hopkins APL), Bill Folkner (JPL, Caltech) and the NASA New Horizons Team, Ed Fomalont for the astrometric scheduling, data reduction and analysis, and Diego Garcia-Appadoo for the preparation of the scheduling blocks.

3. Single quasar observations over tens of minutes or longer to determine the properties of atmospheric delay variation over baselines up to 15 km. These data were obtained as part of the past ALMA Long Baseline Campaigns. See the README file for a general description of the dataset, and 10kmBL_DataStatus.pdf for a detailed listing of the datasets.